"Historic Abuse": Child abuse should not be so described

At the Association of Child Abuse Lawyers - www.childabuselawyers.com and indeed at my own firm Abney Garsden McDonald (www.abuselaw.co.uk), we constantly wrestle with abuse which happened many years ago, and "Limitation" or "Time Delay", as it is colloquially known.

Using the word "Historic" is therefore not only ill advised legally in that it emphasises by its description the fact that the abuse happened a long time ago, but also disrespects the survivor whose suffering is life long.

I am going to be recommending that we promote this idea as a campaign on our Website. I also support Tom in suggesting to the Police, who first coined the phrase back in the late 1990's, that its use is abandoned.